When Taylor and Turtle come to the reservation to face their future, readers will feel the adoptive mother's helplessness as she admits that she, too, might have let the child down. The characters are ordinary, yet noble and memorable, and the ending is just and gratifying. The issue of Indian children being adopted outside the tribe is addressed with respect from all sides.
For what's hoped to be a "break-out book," a greatly gifted storyteller returns to the characters and settings of her celebrated first novel The Bean Trees , Kingsolver previously tracked plucky ex-Kentuckian Taylor Greer as she made her way west to Tucson, struggling to earn a living and to deal with the frightened, wounded toddler Turtle, who had been abandoned in Taylor's care in Oklahoma.
Now it's three years later. Settled Tucsoners Taylor and Turtle are on vacation at the Hoover Dam when six-year-old Turtle witnesses an accident—a retarded man has fallen into a spillway.
When the man is rescued, Turtle becomes a celebrity—which brings self-confidence but also the attention of Cherokee Nation authorities in Heaven, Oklahoma—especially that of Indian-activist lawyer Annawake Fourkiller, who recognizes Turtle as a missing Cherokee child called Lacey Stillwater; Lacey, it turns out, is the daughter of a deceased Cherokee woman whose alcoholic sister's abusive boyfriend broke both of Turtle's arms before the sister and boyfriend ditched her and disappeared.
When Fourkiller pays an ominous visit to Taylor, whose adoption of Turtle may have been illegal, Taylor packs up the child and goes on the lam. As their flight becomes more punishing, Turtle regresses severely. Soon Taylor no mother, not even those in the Indian myth of the odd title, is more loving shows up to spare Turtle the trials of flight.
All will be amicably,hilariously, and heartwarmingly settled to everybody's satisfaction. Not the truly wonderful book it might have been—characters who seem important disappear; carefully marked trails turn out to be merely picaresque, leading nowhere—but a terrific read nonetheless. Although Mr. Crittendon has made a fortune, his devastation over the loss of Native American culture drives him to suicide. Cash's sister and the nosiest woman in Heaven, Oklahoma.
Lettie helps orchestrate the love affair between Cash and Alice. One of Heaven's most eccentric personalities. Boma's crazy creativity and wisdom would not be valued in white American society. On the Cherokee Nation, she adds an invaluable element to her community. Lawyer on the Cherokee Nation, and Annawake's boss. A self-described "born- again" Cherokee, he feels a little guilty that he is not a better mentor for Annawake.
Although he no longer possesses Annawake's youthful idealism, but he shares her reverence for the Nation. Social worker responsible for Turtle's case. He is kind and gentle, without the professional airs that Taylor thinks is typical for social workers. Annawake's brother and sister-in-law. They are a classic example of the way the Cherokee value all kinds of family configurations. Although they are divorced, they keep having kids together, and love them dearly.
Cash Stillwater's girlfriend in Wyoming. She pretends every day to string beaded jewelry in the window of a tourist shop, and always seems to be trying a little too hard to attract the attention of men. Lucky's mother. She is another example of a mother who would give anything for her child.
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Taylor Greer One of the protagonists in the novel. Read an in-depth analysis of Taylor Greer. Turtle Greer The adopted Cherokee daughter of Taylor. But the one story she does not tell him will later drive him away—as it drove away her boys, and as it drove away the neighbors. Before he leaves, Paul D. Finally, the ex-slave community, rebuilding on ashes, will intervene, and Beloved's tortured vision of a mother's love—refracted through a short nightmare life—will end with her death.
Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters. Doerr presents us with two intricate stories, both of which take place during World War II; late in the novel, inevitably, they intersect.
D-Day took place two months earlier, and Cherbourg, Caen and Rennes have already been liberated. He also crafted clever and intricate boxes, within which treasures could be hidden.
Through flashbacks we learn that Werner had been a curious and bright child who developed an obsession with radio transmitters and receivers, both in their infancies during this period. Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Sign Up. Page Count: Publisher: HarperCollins. No Comments Yet. Related summaries: books by Barbara Kingsolver Animal Dreams. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Flight Behavior. High Tide in Tucson.
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